The Summer of Schemes
by Nieriel
Summary: The summer after seventh year, Hermione is heartbroken over Ron...who has no idea of her feelings. When he, Harry and Ginny come to visit, Hermione schemes to make him love her, with consequences no one could expect...
1. The Message

**Chapter One **

_Hot. _That was the only word to describe the weather that year. It made the heat wave of two years ago look like a calm winter's day. It was the kind of weather where you fantasized about tubs full of ice cubes, but it was so hot that you couldn't actually do it; all you could do was lie there and think longingly of it, and try to summon up the energy to move.

Hermione Granger was one of those afflicted with the heat. It was two weeks since she'd graduated from Hogwarts, along with Harry and Ron, and she was headed off to St. Mungo's University of Wizarding Medicine in the fall to become a Healer. Harry had been accepted to Auror training, and Ron was joining his brother Charlie in Romania to work with dragons. He had dreams of starting a zoo, he'd told Hermione one night at Hogwarts while they'd been studying for NEWTS. "Just no damned spiders!" she heard him say, just as clearly as when he'd been sitting by the fire with her That Night. She smiled at the memory. Everything about That Night – she would always think of those two words capitalized, no matter how she tried – was memorized crystal-clear in her mind and heart. The way his eyes had sparkled devilishly in the firelight. The way his mouth had hungrily sought hers. The way…

Hermione shook her head fiercely, trying to expel the memories. She'd never told anyone about That Night, and instead kept it locked away in her heart. Not even Ginny Weasley, Hermione's closest friend and confidant, knew that anything had happened.

The pain she'd felt at graduation was worse than any she'd ever felt in her life – including the time, when she was nine, she'd broke her ski and gashed her knee right to the bone. He hadn't wanted her, and when he walked out of the train station that day when they'd got back from Hogwarts without so much as a "Goodbye", he'd taken all of Hermione's hopes and dreams with him.

For she loved him – loved him so completely that she'd have given up medical school and run to Romania with him, had only he asked. But he'd acted like nothing had happened, like he didn't care. Maybe he really didn't. She didn't know. Deep down, she felt that he did care…but a part of her realized that that was only wishful thinking.

A small ache began to emanate from her heart, and a tear trickled out of her eye as she watched life go on outside of her bedroom window.

She would get over it. She would move on. She'd go to U of WM, meet a rich, handsome young wizard and marry him. And get Ronald Weasley out of her mind – and her heart – forever.

At this last thought the aching in her chest intensified.

"Who am I kidding?" she cried despairingly. "I'm never going to get over Ron!" she threw herself face-first onto her bed and began to sob.

_Ron, Ron, Ron, _her heart cried in agony. She wiped her eyes and sat up, sniffling. "I'm not going to cry. I won't – I won't -" a sob escaped her, and another threatened to follow, but she held it in. "I won't think of it. I'll think about it tomorrow, when I can stand it."

She looked at herself in the mirror and laughed in spite of herself. Her eyes were puffy, and her face was a mess of red and white blotches. "What a pretty sight I am!"

A rustling of feathers and a soft hooting drew Hermione's attention to the open window. "Calandra…?" she asked in confusion. Her owl (a graduation present from her parents) stood hooting softly and shuffling about with a letter attached to her foot.

"Who sent a letter to me?" Hermione wondered aloud. "I don't remember sending Calandra out…" she took the letter and unfolded it. It was from Ginny.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Granger (and Hermione)_

_ Thank you so much for inviting us to visit next week! Mum finally agreed and said we could come – it took some doing though. She said something about not trusting us around Muggles. I had to promise a dozen times that we would NOT behave as Fred and George would if they were coming…which they're not, thank goodness. They're too busy with their shop. Anyways, we'll be along to your place next Friday. _

_ Love from Ginny xxxx_

_PS. Sorry this is so short, but we're just off to play some Quidditch. See you on Friday, Hermione! _

Joy filled Hermione. Ginny was coming to visit! A smile lit up Hermione's face and, for a moment, the deep sadness in her eyes lifted. Then they filled with puzzlement.

_I never wrote to Ginny…and who's "us"? _She scoured the letter again. "Dear Mr and Mrs Granger…" _Did Mum write and invite Ginny without telling me?_

As if on cue, Mrs Granger floated into the room with an armful of folded laundry. She took in the scene – Hermione standing silently in the middle of the room with a scrap of parchment clenched in her fist, staring at it dazedly – and her brows knitted in concern.

"Hermione, what is it?"

Hermione looked at her mother in confusion. Her mind was swirling, and she could barely think straight.

"Mum…did you write to Ginny and invite her to visit?"

"Why…yes. Is that a problem?" Mrs Granger frowned, anticipating some awful wizarding faux pas. Perhaps witches and wizards didn't write to each other and invite them to stay? Whatever the reason, Hermione didn't look at all happy.

"No, it's fine…but I just wish you'd told me."

"Oh, is that all?" Mrs Granger breathed a sigh of relief and bustled into the room, putting the clothes away. "It must have slipped my mind. But it doesn't matter now, they're coming soon, I expect."

"They?"

"Yes – Ginny, Harry and Ron."

At the mention of Ron, Hermione went hot and cold all over, and she felt dizzy.

"Ron…here?" she said faintly, and sank down onto her bed.

"Hermione, are you alright?"

Hermione didn't answer. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts, swirling around like a kaleidoscope behind her eyelids. Her one main thought was _Ron is coming! Ron is coming to MY house! _She was being pulled in a hundred directions at once. She wanted to scream, dance, turn cartwheels, cry, jump out the window, laugh, and throw a party all at once. But as it was, all she could do was sit there and look stunned.

_Friday. They're coming Friday. That's – why – that's_

"Tomorrow!" she cried.

"What?" Mrs Granger stared at her daughter, alarmed by the outburst.

"Tomorrow, they'll be here tomorrow."

"Oh – why – yes, they will!" Mrs Granger said in surprise.

"I – I have to get ready." Hermione said dazedly. "Shoo, Mum, shoo."

"But -"

"I said shoo!" Hermione pushed Mrs Granger from the room and shut the door. She leaned against it, her eyes snapping with excitement. Ron was coming! She did a little hop in her happiness. Ron was coming, and she'd make him care. She'd make him love her; she'd make sure of it this time.

**A/N:** Hey peoples…please review this and let me know what you think…especially of Hermione, cos I'm worried I made her into a Mary Sue…if she is please be honest with me and tell me so I can hopefully fix it before this story gets too set in it's ways…well yah. Hope ya'll like it! HUGS!


	2. Arrivals

**Chapter Two - Arrivals**

_BANG! _

Harry, Ron and Ginny flew backwards and found themselves knocked right off of their feet.

"God, I hate this bus," grumbled Ron. "Why couldn't we have just flooed there like _I _wanted to?"

Ginny sighed in exasperation. "Because," she explained with the air of a person who has explained something a dozen times already and is losing patience, "Hermione's parents are Muggles. Their fireplace isn't connected to the Floo Network."

"But couldn't Dad have got it hooked up, just for today?" Ron whined.

"Remember what happened when you guys flooed to the Dursleys to get me in fourth year?" Harry reminded his friend.

"Oh yeah..." Ron grinned nostalgically. "And Dudley ate a Ton-Tongue toffee..." All three of them laughed uproariously at the memory. Although Ginny had not been present for the event in question, she'd heard the tale a dozen times from Harry and her older brothers.

"D'you remember when -" Ginny began eagerly, when another loud _BANG! _echoed, and they were all thrown to the floor again.

"Maybe we should just stay lying down," said Harry, half-exasperated, half-amusd."

"Are we there yet?" Ron whined, muffled by the pile of suitcases which had fallen on him.

"No, Ron." Harry replied absent-mindedly. "So - what were you saying, Ginny?"

"I was going to say: D'you remember when Fred and George let off all those fireworks, and Umbridge -"

"Do I remember?" Harry asked increduously. "How could I forget?"

"Highlight of the year." Ron pitched in happily.

"I wish I could have seen the old hag's face when she found out I got an 'O' on my Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL."

"So did I!" Ginny retorted, pretending to be offended. "And, if I recall correctly, _I _was voted leader of the DA now that you're gone -"

"Just wait until NEWTS," Harry reassured her. "You'll go mad."

"How'd you do on yours, anyway?"

"Dunno. We're supposed to get our results sometime next week."

"I'll bet Hermione came top." Ron interjected gloomily. "She always does."

"So?" Ginny gave her brother an inquisitive look.

"So...nothing."

"Okay..."

"Hey, Ginny -" Harry started to say, when the Knight Bus produced a violent _BANG! _and hurtled them back to the floor before stopping. Stan Shunpike hopped down and announcd, "Thirty-seven Russel Street, London, England!"

"That's us!" Ginny cried excitedly, grabbing her bag and rushing towards the exit of the bus. In her excitement, her bag collided with Ron's face, much to his annoyance. Ginny, on the other hand, didn't even notice.

"Blimey," Ron mutter, rubbing his nose and glaring darkly after his little sister. "You'd thinks he hasn't seen 'Mione in two years instead of two weeks."

Harry just grinned and followed Ron off the bus. By the time the two of them had stepped onto the pavement, Ginny and Hermione were in each others arms, squealing with excitement.

Hermione disengaged herself from the hyperactive redhead and smiled at Harry. "Hi, Harry." she said simply, giving him a quick hug."

"Nice to see you, 'Mione." Harry returned her hug and hoisted his bag up onto his shoulder.

"Hi, Ron." Hermione murmured without looking at him. "Come on everyone, I'll show you around." She fumbled for the doorknob and grasped it, swinging the front door open behind her. Her three friends followed her inside, chatting excitedly about all the things they'd been up to in the last two weeks.

"Harry got to our place last night -"

"We took the Knight Bus, it was a _nightmare _-"

"NEWT results coming in this week -"

Hermione let their babble wash over her like a flood of warm water and squashed her feelings of elation over the fact that Ron - her Ron, the man she loved with her whole heart and then some - was only a foot away from her.

"You've got to be careful," she'd told herself that morning. "Don't let him see that you still care." She hoped he hadn't beenoffended by her lukewarm greeting out in the yard, but she couldn't let her guard down. Not until she was certain about how he felt.

"Harry, you and Ron can sleep in the spare room -" Hermione said loudly, showing them into the room. Harry meandered in and dropped his stuff on the left bed, grinning. Ron followed suit.

"Nice setup." Harry commented, causing Hermione to laugh.

"Ginny, you'll be sharing my room." She told her best friend, and continued down the hall.

"This week is going to be so awesome!" Ginny squealed, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Hermione laughed at her friend's enthusiam. "I'm really glad you guys are here." she said sincerely, and met Ron's gaze for the first time that day.

A pang cut deeply into her heart, and she looked away from his deep, bottomless eyes. Eyes that captivated her. Eyes that she could look into forever and never reach their end...

_Stop it, _Hermione told herself fiercely. _Remember! Play it cool! Don't let him break your heart again, Hermione. Keep it guarded._

But in her heart, she knew that it was already too late. At the end of the week, when Ron left, he'd take her heart - and all her pitiful hopes - with him.


	3. Unexpected

**Chapter Three -- Unexpected**

"I can't believe our NEWTS are only four days away," Ron moaned, shoving his textbooks away from him and looking at them with disgust and slight apprehension. He looked at the clock, and frowned. It was nearly midnight; the two of them were the only ones left in the common room.

Hermione pushed the books back towards him. "Keep going! You said it yourself - NEWTS are only four days away, how would you like to have to explain to your mum that you've failed everything?"

"I need a break. Just fifteen minutes," Ron pleaded.

Hermione sighed. Knowing Ron, fifteen minutes would stretch into an hour, and no more revising would get done that night. But as she looked at his adorable puppy-dog eyes, she felt herself giving in. "Fine. Fifteen minutes _only_." She said sternly, marking her place carefully in _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade Seven_ and closing it.

Ron grinned and stretched out on the floor in front of the fire. Hermione slid off of her chair and knelt close to the flames, letting the heat warm her fingers.

"So what are you going to do if you don't get into St. Mungo's?" Ron asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I'll take a year off. Or I was thinking I might stay and become the Assistant Charms Professor - you know Flitwick wants to retire in a couple years." She gazed into the fire for a minute. "Are you still going to Romania in September?"

"As far as I know," Ron closed his eyes. "I want to start a zoo." He chuckled. "Just no damn spiders!"

Hermione laughed quietly. Ron's fear of spiders was an old joke. "I'll miss you," she said softly, wondering if she had the courage to say what she wanted so desperately to tell him.

"I'll-" Ron began, but he was cut off by an owl rapping smartly at the window. Disgruntled, he got up and let it in. "Who're you after?" he asked, not recognizing the handsome tawny. It flew to Hermione, and she took the official-looking letter from its talons, looking surprised. Ron peered over her shoulder at the envelope. "Who's it from?"

Hermione swallowed nervously. "It - it's from St. Mungo's," she said in a strangled whisper.

"It must be your acceptance letter!" Ron said excitedly. "Open it!"

Hermione's hands were shaking so badly that she couldn't. Annoyed, Ron ripped the letter from her hands and tore the envelope open, scanning the letter quickly. Hermione stood still, her eyes fearful and her hands nervously fluttering around her throat. "What does it say?" she whispered.

"Dear Miss Granger," Ron read slowly, enjoying the impatience on Hermione's face. "We are dreadfully sorry to inform you..."

"Oh no..." Hermione gasped.

"That you got in!" Ron shouted, throwing his hands in the air and pulling Hermione into a bear hug. "You got in, you got in - of course I knew you would, they'd be crazy not to take you..."

"I got in?" Hermione asked dazedly. Then, as it sank in, she said again, "I got in!" and hugged Ron back fiercely, half-laughing, half-crying with happiness.

Then, as suddenly as if they'd been struck with a cattle prod, they drew apart. Ron looked into her eyes. Hermione bit her lip self-consciously, but didn't look away. Slowly, an inch at a time, they moved closer. Hermione's eyes fluttered shut a fraction of a second before Ron kissed her, and then they were lying together in front of the fire, kissing fiercely. Ron trailed a string of kisses down the side of Hermione's neck, and she thought she would die from the sheer sweetness of it. She brought his head up to kiss him again, but he held back.

"Not here," he murmured into her ear, sending shivers down her spine.

"Where?" Hermione whispered hoarsely.

"Upstairs." And with that, Ron picked her up as if she was a feather, and carried her to his bed.

And so, with four other boys sleeping but a few feet away, they made love.

-------------

Hermione snapped awake as though she had been hit. She lay still for a moment, remembering her dream with some pain. It wasn't so much a dream as a memory - but the events of That Night had haunted her while she slept ever since graduation. She wondered what had woke her. It certainly wasn't Ginny - the girl slept so quietly she might have been mistaken for dead, and sure enough, when Hermione peered at the lump of blankets on the floor that was Ginny, they were still and quiet.

Then, an intense wave of nausea hit her like a punch in the stomach. "Oh, no." She groaned, vaulting out of bed as her mouth filled with saliva. She ran to the bathroom, where she proceeded to empty the contents of her stomach noisily into the toilet. Once she had finished, she drew her knees up to her chest and leaned against the cupboard, eyes closed.

This was the third morning in a row she'd gotten sick. Was she coming down with something? But if she had the flu, surely it wouldn't manifest only first thing in the morning...would it? She pressed her knees tightly to her chest and then winced as pain shot through her breasts. They'd become amazingly sensitive over the last week or so. She wondered vaguely if she should see the doctor.

Her stomach spasmed again and she reached for the toilet, retching violently once more. As she flushed the toilet, her eyes fell on a box of tampons stowed discreetly behind the wastebasket. And then it hit her: her period was over a week late.

She shook her head slowly. "No..." she said out loud. "I must just have the dates wrong." Panic growing inside of her like a caged animal, she tried to think back, counting days inside her head. She was definitely late. Really late. And her period could be timed practically to the minute.

The swollen, tender breasts...the morning sickness...Hermione felt like her world was dropping out from underneath her. She was pregnant.

**A/N: Sorry everyone...I know it's kinda short...but I really wanted to leave this hanging. Next chapter will be longer, I promise.**


	4. Revelations

**Chapter Four -- Revelations**

Hermione stared at the box of tampons, willing it to tell her that she was simply insane, and wasn't pregnant with Ron's child after all. Her heart thumped wildly in her chest.

_No, no, no!_ Her brain screamed. She couldn't be pregnant - she just couldn't be! They had only slept together once, and they had used protection. It was impossible.

But then why was her period so obviously late? And why did she have something suspiciously like morning sickness? She buried her face in her hands. _Think, Hermione, think._ But no other rational explanation came to her. She realized she was hyperventilating, and focused on calming her breathing. _I need to know for sure._ The bonging of the grandfather clock downstairs told her that it was nine o'clock. The drugstore would be open by now.

Shaking slightly, Hermione tiptoed back into her bedroom, where Ginny lay dead to the world, and dressed quietly, pausing to grab a fiver from her bureau. She then slipped from the house and padded the three blocks to the store, wordlessly handing the tired-looking cashier a pregnancy test. She thought she detected laughter in the girl's eyes as she paid, but silently took the bag and left, walking as quickly as she could without breaking into a run.

Back in the bathroom, she held the tiny plastic applicator with both hands, willing the results to appear. The box said it would take approximately three minutes to show. She felt dizzy, and realized she was hyperventilating again, tears trickling slowly down her cheeks. She'd never been so afraid in her life - not when she'd been cornered by a troll in first year, not when Harry had had to face a dragon in fourth, never. She felt she'd rather take on Voldemort and his entire band of Death Eaters than find out she was pregnant, and - a chill went down her spine - if she was, _she'd have to tell Ron._

"'Mione?"

Hermione looked up to see Ginny's sleepy face peering at her through the open bathroom door. She made to close it, but Ginny, who had the reflexes of a cat, stuck her foot out and barged her way in. "What are you doing?" she asked. "I heard you crying. Are you okay?" she looked down curiously at the object in Hermione's hands, and as she realized what it was, her face went pale.

"Is that what I think it is?" she whispered.

Hermione nodded in anguish, tears now pouring down her face.

"But...who? When? _Where_?" Ginny asked confusedly.

"Shh!" Hermione whispered furiously. "If you wake anyone up..."

Ginny nodded and shut the bathroom door behind her, locking it. "Hermione, what's going on? Why are you taking a pregnancy test?"

"Because..." Hermione swallowed, and held back her flood of tears. "Ron and I..."

"_Ron_?!"

"Ginny!" Hermione pleaded in a furious whisper.

"Sorry." Ginny still looked shocked. "You and Ron? When?"

"Right before we wrote our NEWTS," Hermione explained, the words rushing out. "It only happened once...he never mentioned it again so I thought he didn't care...I wanted to say something but...I couldn't...I couldn't take it if he didn't want me..."

Ginny still looked shocked. "And now you're pregnant."

"I might be...I don't know yet." Hermione was rocking back and forth, trying desperately to hold in her frightened sobs. "I'm so scared, Ginny," she wept. "What if I am? What will I tell Ron?"

Ginny was lost for words, and could only pat Hermione's shoulder comfortingly. "Wait until you know," she advised, "before you start worrying about all that."

They both fell silent and stared at the little plastic applicator, whose answer of one line or two would determine Hermione's entire future in a matter of seconds.

"I see one line," Ginny said doubtfully, a minute later.

"Me too." Hope blossomed in Hermione's heart. Maybe she wasn't pregnant, after all. One line, according to the instructions, meant there was no pregnancy.

"Wait..." Ginny peered closely at the little window, and Hermione, a lump in her throat, followed suit. A second line was emerging, faint but growing stronger. They locked eyes, Hermione's full of fear and disbelief, Ginny's filled with shock and sympathy. "Two lines means pregnant, right?"

Hermione nodded faintly. "Ginny," she whispered. "What am I going to do?"

Ginny looked at her friend and wished with all her heart that she had an answer.

Hermione looked at the little window, still defiantly displaying two clear lines, and wished she was dead.

**A/N: Okay, so maybe it wasn't longer. But it's still good, eh?**


End file.
